The men's water polo team finished its season 24-8 with a 14-12 victory over Pacific for 5th-place at the MPSF Tournament

Gavin Arroyo is in his eleventh season as the head men's water polo coach at Long Beach State. During his time at LBSU he has compiled a 132-119 record. In 2012 Arroyo led the 49ers to a 24-8 regular season finish as well as a 4-4 finish in conference play. The historic year led LBSU to its first appearance in the MPSF Tournament since 2008 and ended with a fifth-place finish. Arroyo was also awarded with his second MPSF Coach of the Year award for his efforts. Long Beach State had six players named to the All-MPSF teams with Dan Matulis earning the lone second-team honors while Balint Meszaros, Spencer White, Milos Vrzic, Nick Rascon and Nolan McConnell earned honorable mention. The 49ers also had four players claim All-America honors named by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches. Matulis again garnered the lone second-team honors while Meszaros, Rascon, and White earned honorable mention accolades. In 2007 Arroyo was selected as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) co-Coach of the Year after leading Long Beach State to a 17-15 record. During the 2007 season the 49ers upset No. 2 Stanford (7-5) in an MPSF home match and won the Inland Empire Tournament. Long Beach State averaged an impressive 9.34 goals scored per game and the 49ers placed one player (Steve MacKenzie) on the All-MPSF Third Team and had three more players named honorable mention All-MPSF. LBSU also had three players (MacKenzie, Jake Kinne, Travis Buchanan)named honorable mention All-America by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches. Long Beach State finished with a 16-10 record in 2011 (1-7 MPSF) with senior Aleksandar Petrovic claiming honorable mention All-MPSF honors. In 2010, Long Beach State finished with a 7-15 record (0-8 MPSF) with freshman Nick Rascon earning honorable mention All-MPSF honors. In 2009, the 49ers finished 9-12 (1-7 MPSF), including a 3-1 record in the NorCal Tournament. Two LBSU players (Aleksandar Petrovic and Jeff Greenwood) earned honorable mention all-league honors. In 2008, the 49ers finished 14-18 overall. Along the way they had notable wins against Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, Bucknell and Princeton. Long Beach averaged 9.22 goals per game while Ash Blythen and Derek Weibe-Bailey earned All-MPSF honors. In his first season in 2006, the 49ers were 11-17 overall and tied for sixth place in the MPSF, picking up two victories over rival UC Irvine. Arroyo is a two-time member of the U.S. Men's Olympic Water Polo team (1996, 2000) and spent two years as an assistant coach at California. In 2005, he served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Men's Senior National Team planning training schedules, aiding in game preparation, organizing fundraising events, and being responsible for fundamentals, tactic implementation and conditioning. Arroyo started the Long Beach Water Polo Club catering to youth water polo players, both boys and girls, on May 1, 2010. He has also served as the head coach for the Olympic Club of San Francisco men's team (2004-05) for two years. A 1994 graduate of UC Berkeley with a degree in political science, Arroyo was a first-team All-American at Cal in 1993. He was a part of three NCAA Championship squads at Berkeley (1990, 1991, 1992). Arroyo competed on the U.S. National Team for eight years (1993-2000) helping lead the U.S. squad to numerous championships. The U.S. men's team won the World Championships in 1994 and 1998, the 1997 FINA Cup and the 1995 and 1999 Pan American Games. He also competed on the U.S. men's team at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. Arroyo competed for seven years overseas playing professional water polo in Greece and Spain with five different clubs (Vouliagmeni, Glyfada, CN Barcelona, Olympiakos and CN Barceloneta). He was a member of the 1998 Greek League championship team and was runner-up in 1997 and 1998 at the European Cup. Arroyo is a native of Southern California, growing up in Orange and earning 1990 Swimmer of the Year and High School Player of the Year honors from the Orange County Register at Villa Park High School. Arroyo and his wife, Erene, have two daughters, Angeliki (5) and Mikaela (born in March 2012).